The next morning, Noelle showed up as usual to spar with Yaoyao.
Afterward, Fischl told her they'd punished a lot of villains last night, then asked how long until Noelle's recharge device was full.
"It's only at seven percent…" Noelle admitted honestly.
Fischl waved, disappointed. "Shame. I wanted you to join us as Darknight Hero tomorrow night. Looks like we'll wait till next week."
Noelle pressed her lips together silently.
Of course she wanted to transform into a Magical Girl, justice descending from above.
But charging was just too slow.
Faith… faith… faith…
That wasn't something that could change or grow overnight.
Unless she used a special method—like the sacrificial ritual she'd read about in Aunt Alice's notebook…
But that one felt… off.
Noelle wrestled with the thought.
Later, once everyone was up, Xia Ci returned the phones she'd collected yesterday.
She also transformed the Akasha Terminals Collei had delivered into new smartphones, then handed them out to Noelle, Klee, Fischl, Kirara, and Collei—all the ones who didn't have phones yet.
"As long as you've got this, you can be reached anywhere?"
"Exactly."
"That powerful?"
"Plus new functions like taking photos, counting steps, and more."
"Sounds amazing."
"Let's add each other as friends first."
"Mr. Xia, what's your username?"
"Xia Zhi."
"Got it, added."
"Mm."
After breakfast outside, everyone went about their own activities.
Xia Zhi went to the Knights of Favonius headquarters, knocked on Jean Gunnhildr's office door, and gave her a new phone.
She thanked him and invited him for tea.
Afterward, he headed to the Library's second floor, Lisa's alchemy workshop.
"Mr. Xia, you're saying you've solved the alchemy material explosion issue?"
"That's right."
"How?"
"By using a special flame to refine and separate the unstable properties."
"Special flame?"
"This one."
Golden fire flickered at his fingertip as he demonstrated the smelting.
Lisa eyed him strangely. "Mr. Xia doesn't hold a Pyro Vision, does he?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Then… are you an Adeptus from Liyue?"
"Also no."
"Then how—?"
"Let's just call it my secret."
"…Alright."
Lisa led him to the material warehouse.
Inside, piles of purple materials filled the space.
Xia Zhi asked her to wait outside, then unleashed a sea of fire.
It didn't harm the warehouse at all, only enveloped the materials.
Moments later, they'd returned to normal color.
He beckoned, and a flood of sesame-sized Rule Fragments flew into his hand.
He smelted them again, fusing them into a single irregular purple block.
[Path of Lightning]
Quality: Gold
Type: Rule Fragment
Trait: Chaotic
Effect: Once shattered into fragments, then forcibly smelted back together. Cannot be absorbed.
Hidden Effect: None
Not Recyclable
So now it had a [Chaotic] trait.
Xia Zhi frowned, then pulled out the [Universal Syringe] and extracted it.
The uneven purple block became layered liquid inside the syringe—each layer clearly a different trait.
He took out a plain-looking bottle.
[Essence Bottle]
Its strange Mixing effect: perfectly combine any liquids.
Those layered liquids should count.
Opening the bottle, he injected them in.
Then he shook it lightly, poured the liquid back out—now a uniform shade of purple.
He sealed it in a test tube, stored it, and checked the description.
[Path of Lightning]
Quality: Gold
Type: Rule Fragment
Trait: Variable
Effect: Makes elemental power unpredictable and mutable.
Hidden Effect: Absorption success rate +67%.
Recyclable: 100 points
The trait had changed from [Chaotic] to [Variable].
And the hidden effect—boosting absorption success—was especially interesting.
He remembered when he'd first absorbed [Path of the Netherworld Chef], the absorption had failed outright, destroying the item.
Thankfully, he could rewind time and retry until he succeeded.
Which meant this "higher success rate" wasn't much use to someone who could control time.
Still, he'd keep it.
Xia Zhi stored everything and stepped out.
Lisa was waiting at the door. "All done?"
He nodded. "All processed. Ready for use."
She peeked inside, then came back out smiling sweetly. "Mr. Xia, you work so fast."
"…"
With the raw materials handled, the next step was formulas.
For an alchemy master like Xia Zhi, that was child's play.
Even with the same materials, he could adjust proportions to brew different potions.
But since the goal was profit, free experimentation wasn't useful—he had to meet market demand.
"First, we decide on potion types. Bestsellers would be Life Potions, right?"
Lisa nodded. "Yes. Recovery potions are universal—usable by any gender, age, profession, even race. Huge customer base, always sell best."
"And for premium buyers… Charm Potions?"
Lisa laughed. "Exactly. Potions that boost charm—men buy them for women, women buy them for themselves, no matter the price."
They discussed for a while, settling on types. Xia Zhi then drafted formulas based on the warehouse stock.
When he handed them over, Lisa didn't take them immediately.
"One important matter left—profit share."
"How about thirty for me, seventy for you?"
"That would be far too unfair to you, Mr. Xia."
"Not at all. The materials are yours, the brewing is your job, the selling is on you too. I just wait to collect my share."
"You can't say that. Without you refining the materials, we couldn't use them. And the key formulas also come from you."
"…Then fifty-fifty?"
"Deal."
She finally accepted the papers with a sultry smile.
"Mr. Xia, you're refreshingly straightforward."
"And Miss Lisa is very reasonable."
"To a pleasant partnership."
"To a pleasant partnership."
They shook hands—
Xia Zhi's expression turned strange.
Wait a minute. Handshake's fine, but why are you tickling my palm with your finger?